SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to ISM Radio. I'm your host, Gage, and I'm here tonight for the executive networking event at Ohica Castle, and I have the pleasure of sitting here in the library with Adam Holzer. Thank you, Gage Simon. From Hooga. Hooga. Hooga. So tell us how Hooga became Hooga, because you know there's a lot behind the story there. It's not just a name, it's got a little story behind it.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

So I'm a very relationship-driven business developer. I know this. I genuinely care about getting to know people, their stories, what makes them, you know, who they are as a business owner. And in networking, one of my least favorite questions is when somebody would approach you, and the first thing they say is, What do you do? Right. And I always thought that the who was more important than the what. Because at the end of the day, we're going to Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Tell me a little bit about yourself. So in January of 2020, I hosted these eight think tank focus groups for about 200 business owners over the course of the eight days, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Thursday, Monday to Thursday. And I started off each of the think tanks. They were like focus groups. And I wanted to understand what business owners were looking for in their networking and business development that they were not already getting. So I called it the good, the bad, the ugly, the magnificent. So people shared things that they loved, they hated, they wished there was more or less of, none of, some of. And that was in January of 2020. Okay. In February of 2020, my co-founder Greg Pajak and I learned about the culture Huga, which is really spelled H-Y-G-G-E, and it's pronounced Huga. And you guys didn't spell it that way. You changed that spelling. You changed the spell, yeah. So when we learned about this culture, it you know, if you ever Googled happiest places in the world to live, Denmark, Finland, Norway, all Scandinavian countries, and they're not really known or famous for anything. You know, it rains more than half the year, they're not like the highest taxes, but they're the happiest people. And we did some research to understand what made them the way that they are and why they're the happiest. And it was because of the culture of Hooga, which means to be comfortable, to be cozy, dim lighting, you know, feeling comfortable, content in yourself and where you are. So when we learned about this in February of 2020, and after doing all the focus groups in January of 2020, we really learned that business owners were looking for a more comfortable way to connect, collaborate, mentor, share experiences personally, professionally, socially. So we ended up taking the spelling of H-Y-G-G-E, which is the real way to spell it. Right. And we came up with the way we spell it now, which is W H O, which stands for who are you? What makes you you as the business owner? Because our membership is not a company membership, it's an individual membership subscription for the owner of the company. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So you have to subscribe to Hooga.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

You have to apply, go through our vetting process and so forth. But who are you? So not the what. We care about who you are. So our community in Hooga, we're not industry or category exclusive. You know, all of our members that are in marketing or uh legal, finance, they all collaborate with each other. They keep it very comfortable, very cozy. And so the WHO in Hooga stands for who are you, what makes you you. And then the three Gs stand for grind, grow, and gratify, which if you think about it, it's really the evolutionary stages of an entrepreneur's journey. First you're grinding, hustling to make it, then you're growing, mastering your craft, and then you gratify to be able to make a difference, whether it's mentorship, support, whatever the case is, experience sharing. Right. So and then um the A does not really stand for anything. Okay. So it stands for anything. We we make the joke. So my co-founder Greg, his name is spelled G-R-E-G-G. So it has three G's. Okay. So Hooga has three G's, and then you know there's an A. So we we make the joke, it stands for Adam, or I'll be like, oh, it stands for awesome. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

You had to add something. The acronym was almost complete, but the A really didn't have any meaning.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

And our our members are called Hoogies. So if you're a member of Hooga, you're Hoogie, which is W-H-O-G-G-G-I.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

That's how I first heard about the group. When Dean said hoogie, he was calling it hoogie. And you're like, what did you just call it? And I have exactly I had no idea what he was talking about. And then when I saw the name of it, then it all made sense to me a little bit more. I you know, and then I met you and I learned you explained to me what it was at the diner when we sat there that day. And you told me the story. We hung out at uh it was uh Follettos and Comac, the Pizzeria. That's it. And you that's right. We were supposed to meet it. We met it, we went somewhere else. We were supposed to meet.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

You guys originally went to, I think maybe it was like Prado or somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah, we went somewhere else. Like, Dean, you passed me to get to there. So you told me the story of how Hoogah really became about, and now you told the story about the acronym and the name of the company, but you know, you started on sailboats taking people out, and this is the story I heard. I'm impressed that you remember this. And as a captain, that to me struck me and said, Oh wow, you know, this guy started taking people out on a friend's sailboat.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Wow, and that's how the group started. It's one of my favorite stories, and I don't tell it that often. And the fact that you remember that story, not just because it connected with you because you love fishing and boating, but um, yeah, I I had I don't know, I'm sure the camera can see the look on my face of like almost like surprise because I don't tell the story as often as I love it, but I met someone that was older than me. They he was probably in his late 60s. He was kind of retiring, exiting out. He loved sailing, and his goal was to retire and sail all around Panama and live with him and his wife and do like just change your life like that. And he said, You know, I'm not ready to move yet, but if you want to meet me every single Friday at 2:30 at the Port Chef um dock where I keep it out of over by Danford's. Yep. He's like, You can invite any five people you want. I have a seven-boat capacity, and he's like, You can invite any seven people plus you and me. And he would let me invite every single Friday. And you took him up on it. Every Friday, yeah. I uh I was probably 31, 32 at the time. Okay, not me, yeah, probably about that. And you know, I didn't have a sailboat or anything like that. I'm not even a boater guy, but this guy, his name is Jerry, and he just loved taking people out and giving them that experience, kind of like what you do. Yeah, and um I would- But I charged him, it's a charter, so I have to charge them.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Sailboat, he doesn't need as much gas as I do. It's a big channel.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

And I remember sitting on the back of the boat, you know, Jerry's you know, steering with the big wheel with his uh the helmet with his Budwives in his hand. Yeah, I know, I know. And I'm sitting on the back of the boat and I'm watching my five guests on the front of the boat, and they're having so much fun. I'm watching their interaction, their body language. You can just see that they were connecting in such an unconventional environment where I'm like, wow, I'm like, if you can experience different environments with people that are who you surround yourself with is extremely important, very and putting them in unique settings. You know, this is a unique setting, right? And that that was where I came up with the idea of networking differently. So one of our taglines ended up becoming networking done different. But it's been challenging because we're not a networking group. So it's like, how do we change that stigma of we're a private, highly vetted community for business owners, right? Not a networking group, but everyone always introduces us as oh, they're this great networking group and part of them. I'm like, oh, it's it's okay, Adam.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Right. So tell them a little bit about how you guys have meetings and stuff, because it's not just like going to a boardroom and have a meeting. You guys will meet at the track in the morning and walk and have coffee and this there's cool concepts that you've come up with that made it a little more fun than you're really good at this interviewing thing here, Gage. You know what you're doing. I appreciate that. I really do. You know me well enough that you're asking the right questions.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Uh so we developed a custom app that we did a lot of research and homework and finding the founders. Um, my co-founder, Greg, he is really big into research and he's an experienced entrepreneur, so it's like if we could not make mistakes, we save time and money. So we interviewed a significant amount of app developers, and we found uh developers that built Facebook groups and Facebook communities because we wanted a very community-centric app, a place where, you know, if you think of traditional networking, after the meeting ends, you know, how do you touch base with people or what? Right, what's the follow-up to that? Exactly. And we wanted to build a live place where our members can engage, interact, ask for help, support, mentor each other, share wins, show gratitude, whatever it was. So uh we are not industry or category exclusive. We do not track any type of leads or referrals, we do not have an attendance policy. There's some things that we'll recommend, or like, you know, we recommend that you attend things if it's beneficial to you as a business owner because at the end of the day, we want to provide nourishment and substance that supports business owners.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

And it's a group, right? And it's a group. You need people to attend for it to be a group.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah, so uh we initially launched in June of 21, June 7th, we invited in our first two ever members, uh Steve Barack and Ann Napolitano. They were our first two members of Who invited in, and then we invited in 25 from June 7th to August 31st. And we launched in September of 21, and we only invited in about one member a week for almost the first two years until we got to about a hundred. And once we got to a hundred, our vetting process, our pro you know, our systems are you know, we our members have given us some phenomenal feedback to build it into what it is today. So going back to your original question, which I remember, is what makes you good different. So imagine that coziness of feeling warm and comfortable and no charades, and you can just be yourself and you can open up and be vulnerable and not be judged. And someone will ask you, like, hey, do you want me to just listen or do you want some advice? versus like, oh, you should do this or you should do that. Right. So the culture really means a lot to us, and we have a lot of events. I try to put the value really being on our vetting process and because our members, the quality of the members speaks very loudly, and then the app, you know, being connected 24-7, being able to reach any of our members, a directory. But we have a lot of events, like you said. So about a third of our events are member-led, member driven. Those are events like walk and talks, hikes at the arboretum, kayaking, bonfires, poker nights, um, whatever our members are passionate about. Like you, you love fishing, right? That would be something you're passionate about. Dean loves hockey, right? That might be something that he would host. And then the other two-thirds of events are social events, like morning coffee happy hours or evening happy hours or um growth events. We do a lot of peer-to-peer strategic masterminds that bring our members together to talk and open up around facilitation with the same group of 12 people every month. So you get a little bit of different flavors depending on what spice you like. Sure. So there's no right or wrong way to engage and be part of Hooga. It's really what works for you. And the reason that our membership is month to month is we never wanted anyone to feel hostage or feel like they can't, you know, like if they're got a lot of stuff going on for three or four months, but they love the community, it's like, well, we're here. We would love for you to come back and just want to provide value and support. Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

So you have a bunch of different events. Now, if these people want to join, let's just use I'll use myself as an example. Um, if I wanted to join the group, what is the vetting process that I would go through and talk to you, fill out an application, go to a website? What would be the process?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

So first off, you would need to apply. You can apply either through our app or through the website where you'd create a profile, and your profile actually acts as your application. So once you create that profile and submit it, every single one of our members gets notified. Um, all of our members have a say in the vetting process. Okay. So and how many members are there?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Just to give me a question. Right now we have about 150. Okay, so 150 people are getting an email.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Yeah. Um, they they get notified in the app, right? And they can change and customize their notification. Some people like the email, some people want to push notification, some people want an in-app notification, whatever the case is. Right. And we have a full-time community manager. He's actually a business partner of ours. Uh so Greg and I, we founded Hooga, and then Jason was actually in every single one of those eight focus groups that I had. He actually sat to my left for every single one of them. And Greg and I started the business up, you know, and then brought Jason in a little bit later on. And Jason started off as a member, and then he became our concierge, which was helping our members with a white glove experience, and then he became our community manager, and then from there, he really treated the business like his own. And he wanted to become a partner, and we put him, uh, we had a conversation to six months of negotiation, and we came up with so Jason's our full-time community manager. Nice. He handles 100% of our vetting process. So what happens is someone applies, they fill out the application, they submit it, our members get notified. As soon as they schedule, as soon as they submit it, they get a prompt to schedule their interview with Jason. So they'll have his bookings calendar through Microsoft to be able to book the vetting call. Right. And the three qualifying factors to even be potentially considered for hookah is you have to be a business owner. Okay. Proof of corporation. CEOs, yep, exactly. Business owners, whether you're a solopreneur or you have a company of 100 employees. Right. You have to have an abundant mindset. So our members, the culture of Hooga being warm, cozy, and welcoming, it's not about scarcity or competition, it's about collaboration. And not everyone's looking for collaboration. That's right. Some people want to be, hey, I want to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

People want to compete and be the only guy in corner of market. And I get that.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

And there's organizations for that. That's right. And then the third criteria is that they want to be part of a community. And if you think of like my involvement with Comac Day, Dean's involvement with Comac Day, community is extremely important. And whether it's your religious community, whether it's your athletic community, whether it's your social community, you got to be part of a community. And a community is about giving, sharing, opening up, um, putting yourself out there. And those are the three criteria. So what would happen is someone applies to the app, schedules their interview with Jason, has their interview. If they pass vetting, they then schedule their onboarding. Uh, we have an onboarding calendar where our members or new potential members can book their onboarding, and then they're officially a member of the community. And we have a mentorship process for new members that come on board. Um, we use gamification in our community. If you are not familiar with gamification, like most people are not, it's basically your involvement. So as our members are involved in the app, as they engage, like, comment, um, attend events, direct message, they get points, and that shows that they're involved in the app. Right. And they have different perks that they're able to do that. So they're participating, that they they're involved. We we have a concept called ROI, which stands for return on inclusion. Okay. So how you include yourself is going to be the ripple effects of your investment. So if you're showing up to our events, if you're setting up one-to-ones with our members, if you're engaging in the app, if you're direct messaging our members, if you're going to events like this, that's going to give you a better return on your investment by including yourself.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Okay. So that's a great process. It seems pretty simple for somebody to just go in and fill out a couple of things and go through the vetting process. Now they remember they get invited to the group things and they go to all the outings and all the fun stuff that you guys do. Um is there a website that somebody that's listening to this could go to? Because now people heard you. They want to get vetted, they want to get involved and they want to contact you and read more about it. How do they do that?

SPEAKER_00 14:48

First off, if you I I hope you enjoyed this interview. I I've been on a lot of podcasts before, and this is one of the best interactive, engaging ones. I appreciate it. I'm not just saying this to blow your head up. Yeah, no, I I I appreciate it. There we go. You blow the microphone up. There we go. That's all good. There we go. And um, so if you've enjoyed this podcast interview, uh, first off, please connect with me on LinkedIn. My name is Adam Holtzer, A-D-A-M-H-O-L-T-Z-E-R. And if you are interested in looking into Hugo and want to check out our website, visit W H O, the Who in Hooga, G G G A. So triple G A.com.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Because of Greg. There's three G's in there because Greg has G-R-E-G-G. So you gotta remember that. That's gonna be easy to remember. So Hooga has three G's, which is great. So that's the website, that's where they go. Check it out.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Follow us on social media, check out our culture, our vibe, see if it's something that drives with you. And I look, I look forward to watching this part of the video.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Oh, yeah, no doubt. It doesn't get any better than this, guys. So we really appreciate you coming in and coming to our first. This is our ISM's first executive networking, executive networking event at Ohica Castle. Adam was the first one to jump on the mic tonight, so this is a lot of fun. Uh I'm I felt comfortable because I've met you in the past and I know a little bit about you. So we met each other. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

You we I you vetted me, I vetted you. I'll give a I'll give a quick shout-out if that's okay. So uh I've known Dean, you know, the founder of Idea Stream Media Marketing, marketing. We know Dean, it's called marketing, but Gage, I think. But now I brought media to the table. Maybe bringing some media to the table here. So I've known Dean for about seven, eight years, and I've had the pleasure of watching him grow and so forth. And I've only met you about a year ago, but in the short time that we've met, you know, we've had some just really cool conversations.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Going back to the it's not what you do, it's who you are. That's right. I think when you surround yourself with the right people, you never know the opportunity. So, Gage, if you don't know who Gage is, aside from working with Dean, he's a phenomenal fishing boat captain. Uh, he goes out of prime in Huntington and anything fishing boat related, just have a conversation with this guy, and you'll be very glad that you did.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

That's it. No doubt about it. I love being on the water. In fact, when you were texting me, was it yesterday? Probably. It was yesterday about the cranes in Huntington. I was literally in the harbor right here where we could see from the window in Coast Spring Harbor as you were texting me about that. So I was on the water all day yesterday. So I'm a little red in the face today. But I appreciate the kind words. I really do. And I really appreciate you taking your time to come out to tonight's event at here at Ohica Castle for ISM. You're awesome. And uh stay tuned in, guys. We'll be back with some more stuff here at Ohica Castle. Signing out, Adam Engage. See you soon. Thanks for listening to ISM Radio. Join us for our invitation only executive networking event at the legendary Ohica Castle. For more information, visit IDXtreamarketing.com.